QUICK APPS & FOOTBALL SNAPS: Week 10 – Healthy boneless chicken bites
WINGS. WAAAANGS. Who doesn’t want to scarf down some filthy messy buffalo wings while watching football?
Well, now you can have the taste of such a plate, without the unhealthy junk. I give you boneless chicken bites, the right way. (And hey, keep that celery on the side. If you must do blue cheese, make it fat free!)
But I’m not giving it to you without dropping some wing knowledge first. Did you know that 50 years ago wings were considered one of the least desirable cuts of the chicken, and were in fact a throwaway part often cooked into stock? What were previous generations doing with their lives?
And while it may seem like a simple meal – fry the suckers up and coat them in hot sauce – things get super complicated when you look into the history of it. There are many accounts as to how the whole buffalo wing craze began.
One such story has to do with the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, owned by Frank and Theresa Bellissimo. In 1964, Theresa had the idea to fry up wings when her son Dominic and friends came to the bar looking for a late night snack. Dominic, however, tells the story that it was a busy night in the bar and he (not mom) wanted to do something nice for patrons, so he cooked them up wings. Dad tells another story, one that involves a wrong delivery of chicken wings instead of necks, which the family typically used when cooking spaghetti sauce. To avoid wasting the wrongly given wings, he asked his wife to make a bar appetizer.
Look, I don’t give a shit what Bellissimo thought up the wings and how. All I can say is THANK YOU FOR EVEN DOING IT.
Week 10 (Nov. 6-10): Healthy Boneless Chicken Bites
Knowledge while you nosh:
As a Miami fan, I should have known this, but I didn’t until now: apparently, the game on Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS between the Dolphins and Detroit Lions is just rife with playoff implications. The Dolphins’ playoff chances are at 46 percent going into Week 10, and a win over the Lions would raise that to nearly 60 percent. In the NFC, the Lions are dueling with the Arizona Cardinals for the top playoff seed, and a win over Miami would increase those chances by 6 percentage points. So – FINS UP. And good God, I wish Dan Marino still played.
Other games to enjoy this week: Tonight tune in at 8:25 p.m. for the Browns and the Bengals. On Sunday, partake in the viewing of a 4:05 p.m. game between the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders on CBS and cap the night off with a match-up between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. Monday night goes to the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
*Note that all times are EST and you may not be able to get certain games, depending on the area in which you live.
Courtesy of Mom (mother knows best!)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2/3 to 1 cup of flour, seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and salt
- 3 tablespoons liquid egg whites (which equals 1 egg)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
After chopping your chicken into bite-size nibbles, dip each piece in egg and throw it into a gallon Ziploc bag. After all the chicken pieces are dipped and in the bag, dump the flour mix in. Seal it and shake the hell out of that thing to coat each piece of chicken.
Line a baking pan with foil and spray it with non-stick spray. Place the coated chicken on the foil.
Bake for 6 minutes, flip, and bake an additional 5 (or until they’re crispy and done; some ovens can be temperamental).
After removing from the oven, toss pieces with whatever type of sauce you desire. I went with mild sauce, honey barbecue, and garlic lemon marinade.
Full schedule for the week:
